After the events of May

After the events of May

Still astonished by the incredible success of the 30th of May at the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences – about 100 attentive and passionate people joined the event ‘Grazia Deledda & Sardinia’ – I woke up this morning with a strong feeling of gratitude and a first consideration: sometimes, you have to choose between wisdom and madness. And, really, this process of launching Grazia Deledda in Asia and organising the City University of Hong Kong’s first overseas writing retreat, in Sardinia, in October 2014, was a form of crazy passion indeed. But this was necessary when facing up four events in five months in four different locations, in two complicated cities – Hong Kong and Macau – with speakers coming from the other parts of the world, using different forms of communication and expression: lectures, the screening of a silent movie, a theatrical play, cultural discussions, conviviality.

This process would never have achieved its results (I’ll come back to this point later) without the support of the Beyond Thirty-Nine team and especially the help of several wonderful people to whom I’m very obliged.

First of all, of course, my brother, my partner and friend Angelo Paratico, always rich in culture and new ideas (like the one about the film and the theatrical play), always invaluable, never tired, and brilliant at breaking down doors (now you understand why I’m copying his endless healthy diet and his consequential bad character). Then Juan Morales, alias Marlon Brando after his theatrical performance, who read Grazia Deledda with passion and great culture, bringing opinions and comments – always insightful – and writing the play Grazia Deledda Meets Her Reader; a constant, smart and profound assistance along the whole process. Then Gianni Criveller who fell in love with Grazia Deledda and added the contribution of his wide knowledge as well as his introduction to Macau; Nicole Garbellini, the splendid actress who played Grazia Deledda with great sensibility; Alessandra Cocchi, always indefatigable and motivating behind the scenes; Betty Wei, supportive, inspiring and very caring; and Fabrizio Bestoso, our precious, irreplaceable technical/technological/design/media man (many of us thought that he was only a virtual, on-line figure, but he finally materialised, brilliantly, on the Macau and Hong Kong stage). And many friends of our strict circle: Ugo Foppa Uberti, Donatella Oliboni, Emanuele Travagliati, Arnaldo Acconci, Domenico Antico, Luca Formentini, etc.

An affectionate thank to the Dante Alighieri Association’s team, especially to Elisa Messina, Atsuko Nakamura and Tracy Chan, who supported the events in a very professional way, and to Massimo Mureddu who sponsored the complete chain of public occasions with generosity and the taste of Sardinian foods.

A special thank to the professors Giuseppe Marci and Ugo Collu, who came from Sardinia just for the events, for their outstanding writings and lectures, which disclosed the best features and greatness of Grazia Deledda’s world, adding the weight, the importance and the value of a deep culture; and to Massimo Crivelli, the deputy director of the newspaper L’Unione Sarda, who joined the delegation and brought all the curiosity and the interest of Sardinian readers.

Last but not least, our thanks go to Matteo Fazzi, the director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Hong Kong, and his team. Without his support, we couldn’t have organised events so interesting, rich and successful.

Finally, let me make two dedications: to Luciano Piras, the writer and journalist of the newspaper La Nuova Sardegna, who supported our programme and is now joining B39 as a blogger, but unluckily couldn’t come to Hong Kong; and to my friend Marco Anedda: all the best, Marco! I’m close to you!

I’ll take my time to come back to the results of this series of events and especially to the projects we have in mind and are planning for the next future. We have to talk about many interesting ideas, my friends.

6 Comments

Angelo Paratico

June 1, 2014 - 2:06 am

Thank you, Ciriaco. Yes, it was a great event, packed with refined and cultured people. My thanks go to Luca Formentini for the pictures, Ugo of Buonissimo Food for the preparation and selfless service throughout the evening; to Betty Wei who tried very hard to get there on time, fighting against pig-headed taxi drivers; Susan of the Museum of Medical Sciences and to all our guests.

Juan José Morales

June 1, 2014 - 11:38 am

Grazie maestri, Ciriaco e Angelo.
What an honour to be in your company.
Yes, you both are mad, and what a wonderful madness! You made dreams come true.
Thank you to all our friends of so many backgrounds and nationalities that have supported the Grazia Deledda events.
Juan

CIRIACO OFFEDDU
Engineer, CEO of several companies, more than twenty years of experience as a leader of a consulting group specialized in direct management in a broad range of business disciplines and industries, expert in internationalization processes.

Newly Graduated from the City University of Hong Kong with a Master in Creative Writing.